‘There is no issue with ECOWAS Protocols, but lack of implementation by member states’

Tony Elumelu is a Nigerian diplomat and director of private sector at ECOWAS Commission.
In June, the diplomat, who has worked in many countries in the region, represented the commission, for the first time, at Accra Weizo, a travel expo, where he cleared the air on recurring issues with the ECOWAS Protocols, especially on free movement of people, goods and right of residency.

Elumelu blamed it on lack of implementation by member states, and also highlighted feats of the commission, need to support investments and enabling infrastructure for tourism development in the region, among related issues. Obinna Emelike brings the excerpt.

For those who are meeting you for the first time, who is Tony Elumelu?

My name is Dr. Tony Elumelu. I am from Delta State in Nigeria. I am also the director of private sector at the ECOWAS Commission.
That is the private sector in charge of tourism, investment and business development at the commission.

What is your perception about tourism in Africa?

I am sure you know that movement is a way of life for every black person. What I mean is people of African extraction. So, tourism is beyond mobility and protecting our heritage; a culture that people do not have outside our region. We have cultures and values, though they are eroding, we need to protect them.

But we also have linkages because of our needs for staying and sharing contiguous borders. Many share the same culture and ethnic values.But one of the problems that is impeding tourism in our region is fear, in terms of security issues. I do not think we should come into that. All we need to do is to deal with security issues. Our security agencies are handling that. While security agencies are doing their job, they also need to encourage mobility, exchange and cultural values. But these are the things that are the pillars of ECOWAS integration.

So, tourism is something that should flow within Africa, across borders, for all the regions to boost exchanges and trade.

We have breathtaking culltures, tourism sites and attractions. If we market and protect them with the kind of passion that we ought to do, we will make Africa a great destination for global tourists. So that’s what I feel.

How has ECOWAS Commission contributed to the development and growth of tourism?

Yes. The ECOWAS Commission led the process in terms of developing the ECOWAS Tourism Policy.

This is necessary because you must have legal instruments to guide whatever regime that you need to put in place. So, it is not the ECOWAS Commission that will develop, but with member states. So member states have adopted what they call ECOTOP. That is ECOWAS Tourism Policy.

Within that one, there is a broad spectrum of intervention in terms of our tourism development. Beyond that one, again, in terms of our hotels, because when you talk about tourism, the first thing that comes to your mind is hotels, no classification has been adopted. It means that if you say this is a four-star hotel across the city, if you go to Nigeria, Togo or Gambia, it must be an equivalent. So, it is a harmonized process. The above is aimed at identifying and categorising hotels in order to harmonize all the processes and standards and for seamless operations.

Once again, we have trained the operators. We have trained critical stakeholders in tourism management. So, that is exactly what we do.

To make sure that the implementation is in tandem with the relevant legal instruments is exactly what the ECOWAS is doing.

Beyond that, we are working with the operators on immigration, cross-towns and borders to ensure that we facilitate mobility of tourists. I will tell you again, one of the latest developments, like Ikechi Uko mentioned, we are developing EcoVisa, which has been adopted. But we are trying to make sure that we look at the mechanism because of interoperability in terms of visa issue, which is not something that you just start doing. It works at the highest level for us to harmonize the processes, to make sure that when you come with one particular visa as a tourist, you are able to pass through the 12 ECOWAS countries. So, this is what we are doing for now.

We have harmonized passport regime. I am sure you came in here with ECOWAS passports.
Again, we have adopted biometric ID cards to demystify passports, so that when you are crossing the border with an ID card, you still feel that you are crossing home. That means you are walking across from one street to another.

Because even if you are in the country, you need an ID to cross. So, these are demystifying travels in ECOWAS now. We are making sure that at the end, you have a seamless travel. Again, in terms of capacity building, we have done a lot. I was in Gambia three months ago, we asked them to stop using words like off-season, rather to look inward and show regional attraction in terms of tourism.

It should be all-season instead of off-season.

So, these are the things we are trying to do, but quietly. We are doing a lot more. Really, when you talk about investment, it always comes from tourism. So, if you look down on tourism, you lose investment. You see, when you are talking about investing in your country, people will come in as tourists, and if they look at the investment climate for tourists, it will develop your country.

So tourism is a critical element in terms of our integration and development agenda.

Beyond policies, in what way is the commission supporting tourism operators in the region?

Tourism is a broad sector, with different spectrums of intervention; from SMEs, businesses, and so on. We have filled the capacities down to support them. We provide the relevant finance and grants for the SMEs. We have institutionalized the coalition of SMEs in the region. We have also done business humanization and have supported them in terms of funding and market access because these are what they need for viable exchanges across the region.

So, you can see that it is quite a lot of support that we have been given. We have also institutionalized investment promotion agencies in West Africa. There is quite a lot going on, but we don’t sing our song. The most important thing is that we have adopted MSME charter. The charter is so broad in terms of areas of intervention by member states. We go after businesses that are wholly owned by women and others that should be supported by the government, from even the taxes collected. The problem we have is implementation and not good policies. When it comes to the free movement of persons, there has always been an issue. The free movement of persons was adopted by ECOWAS member states. It is almost as old as the flagship protocol of 1979. It started off very well. It is not the provisions or the legal instrument, but implementation by member states is the problem.

Once you have your passport, you ought to cross the border without any impediment because the provisions are there. You cross the border, bring yourself to the immigration officer at the border. After that point, you cross the border and nobody stops you. The provisions are still there. They have not changed, but the attitude of the operatives is just the problem. Beyond that one, you have foreign elements. What I mean in terms of who have taken advantage of the protocol. The Boy Scouts are there on the road. The community people are there on the road. All of them working as immigration or police officers. But it depends on the political will of the member states to do the job and clear the road.

How has the partnership with the European Union been?

Oh, yes. To move tourism forward in West Africa, we have support from the European Union in terms of the ECOWAS project. The member states have benefitted from this. They work either directly with the member states or through us at the ECOWAS Commission. But this, I tell you, also depends on the ability of the member states to enforce what they have signed. Enforcement is key because if you develop the best protocol and you don’t enforce it, the problem remains. So, it is the enforcement that is a problem.

Where do you see tourism in the region in the next 10 years?

Oh, yes. West Africa. We are projecting that with awareness now, tourism will lead West African economies in the nearest future because there is a paradigm shift in terms of perception of tourism within the ECOWAS region now, especially with AI. But beyond AI, people are aware now of our huge potential. You are here.

You go back and tell them that, oh Ghana is beautiful and these are the things that you should go and see live in Ghana.

So, there are a lot of things that you should copy. And when they come to Nigeria, Togo or Senegal, there are positive things to see and copy too. Tourism is a new order and every man, every woman is a tourist. Your ability to make the best out of it is what sets you apart from others. There is awareness on local holidays now. People want to buy tickets to go to European countries or America. If you pick the funds that you need to buy your ticket, you can spend it in the local destinations, in the neighboring country and still get the same benefit that you are looking for. But one of the things I feel that should play down on, so that we will not lose, is security because such issues are being handled by the appropriate agencies.

For example, in Nigeria, we have quite a lot of places that people can visit. In the north, south, west, and east, you have huge tourism sites. In the east, you talk about Ogbunike Cave, in the west, Oshun River, and in the north, the Akari Ganges. Everywhere we have all those sites. But we need also to develop them. Make sure that you put the appropriate infrastructure because without infrastructure, you will have a very big problem. That is one of the things that you need to do to develop tourism. Good road network and stable power supply are also very important in tourism. We have quite a lot everywhere in the ECOWAS region. In the Guinea, you have Futa Jelon, in Cote d’Ivoire, you have the basilica. You have every good thing in our region. Then you go to the seaside, The Gambia, all these things are there. But our problem is that we need to do a lot of sensitizations and you can’t do that without the media. Most of the time, we plan and strategise, but we don’t put the media in perspective. So, you are bound to fail because if you light a candle and put it under your bed, there are two things that will happen: it will give you the light, but it will also burn the house. So that is the problem.

What do you hope to achieve with your first participation at Accra Weizo?

Ah, the commission is excited to be here. I am quite impressed with the turnout. It is not the number, but the impressive and quality representation from member states. That is number one.

The number two is the rich presentation by Ikechi Uko, who is a Nigerian. He is coming here to bring in this drama, yes, I call it a drama. It shows that Accra Weizo has been accepted in terms of integration. He is not putting up a fight with Ghanaians. So, our integration agenda is working. Accra Weizo is instrumental to this. This is why we support such initiatives to make sure that people feel at home across the countries within the ECOWAS region when they decide to be domiciled. That is taking advantage of the protocol of human affairs and the right of entry and residence.

Accra Weizo has really done a lot in West Africa, especially supporting integration and exchanges for eight years now. They are still doing more, but a lot still needs to be done.